Friday, October 30, 2009

(If you stored yours in the Power Sort Box, you'll want to get them out for Step Two)

You did a great job and now you are ready for Step Two: Cropping and Embellishing!Look at your photos....Are there photos that you can crop (too much sky? hips too big? strange relatives?)

Using a trimmer you can easily crop your photos all at the same time. Just pick up the photo that needs cropping, trim it and put it back on the guide:

Yes, you can cut your photos into cute shapes but (warning) that will slow you down. If you're wanting to finish this album in just a few evenings, you'll want to stick to the straight trimmer.After you have finished cropping your photos, it's time to add paper, journaling boxes or stickers to enhance your photos (don't mount them yet, just trim and add them to your layout). Some scrappers put an entire sheet of 12-inch paper behind the photos, called "wall-papering", but if you want to conserve on your 12-inch paper, you can trim the paper into 3x12-inch borders instead:

I use both techniques.

Keep doing this until all of your layouts are embellished:

Soon your whole table of guides will be ready for Step Three (mounting into album):The advantage to doing Power Layouts is that you are in essence creating an Assembly Line. You quickly get a birds-eye view of your album...which events will warrant a one-page or half-page spread and which warrant a two-page spread or more.

Another advantage is that you can crop all of your pictures at once, speeding up time. You have your decorative supplies on hand so you can easily access paper and stickers, and other decorative items to get as creative as you want.If you aren't ready for Step Three, then go ahead and stack these guides up just like we did in Step One (starting with the last page on the bottom of the stack!). Secure your Power Sort Box and schedule time for your next Power Layouts session....Step Three: Mounting into Album! Feel free to post your comments, I would love to hear how Power Layouts is working for you!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Power Layouts is a perfect project to do on a rainy day or a stay-home-sick day or anytime you want to get an entire album completed in just a few steps. Today I'm going to show you Step One of Power Layouts. It works especially well with a single album project such as a Trip, Wedding, or in my case our 2009 family album.

First gather your supplies:

Ok, first, clear off your dining room table! Then gather your supplies. I use Creative Memories Power Layouts Kit because it has reusable plastic guides - you could also use cardboard inserts or your actual scrapbook pages if you like, but I prefer the plastic ones.

Lay the guides out on a large table or floor:

From left to right...the very first guide is all by itself because this will be my Title Page. All the other guides are set down in pairs so you can easily see a double-page spread or how it would look if you were holding the album in your lap like a book.

Next, you start tossing your photos onto the guides either in chronological order or by theme:

pretty soon your pages (guides) start to take shape and you can clearly see what photos you want for a one-page spread and which will take an entire two-page spread or more. Remember to add any memorabilia you want with your photos in this step:

If you have a LOT of pictures like I did with doing almost all of 2009 at one shot, you may want to get more guides (the Kit only comes with 15...I use at least 45!), spread out to the floor and keep going!

and if you are really crazy-behind like me, you won't stop here....now I put new guides on top of all of these guides and keep going! But seriously, if you are out of photos, stop.

Here is my double-layer ...now I'm continuing laying out photos like a mad-woman.

but look what obsessive-compulsive disorder can do! Haha! Two layers of our entire 2009 family album layed out in just a wee bit of time. Total of 64 pages!!

But I need to stop now and take a break (my little Prince needs to eat). This is very important: starting backwards (with your very last page you laid out), start stacking the guides. Last guide will be on the bottom of your pile!!! Sooo start with the last page and continue stacking all of the guides in backwards order so you will end up with the first page on top!! Got it? Good!

This is where you are really going to want the Power Layouts Kit because it comes with this very cool box. And the best part is:

It seals shut!

Stay tuned for Step Two in Power Layouts where we will crop our photos (if needed) and add enhancements (pretty paper, etc). all of this will be transfered into a real album on real pages, it will all make sense. It is the fastest way I know and I have completed many, many albums in just a few evenings using this system! I hope you can too!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

I am sooo excited to be sharing this new Blog with you! Creative Memories has allowed to us to link our websites with our blogs now and create our own special place for me to share scrapbooking tips and ideas with you. This is where you will find photos and inspiration on how I make the time to get scrapbooking done as well as a place for you to share your ideas with me.

First for those of you who are new here is a picture of my family ... My Hero and our 3 girls and a prince:

Oops - I've gotta run...take our Jelly-in-the-middle to the movies...I'll be back soon!

Donna Lyn Watson, Creative Memories Independent Advisor

I love to write, doodle, pray, play with pens, paper & planners, and celebrate the seasons. I'm a mom of 4 (3 girls and a prince) and I work part time as a preschool teacher. I have been a Creative Memories Director for over 20 years, leading a million dollar team and earning several incentive trips. My greatest passion (besides napping and eating chocolate) is following Jesus and encouraging others.